The By-Stander Chronicles: For the Children
by Cosmina Inspira
Summary: A mother has joined the Quarrymen Society to protect her family from dangerous monsters, but then begins to question her choice. When her family gets caught in the crossfire, she learns what monsters really are.
1. Chapter 1

For the Children

By Cosmic Inspiration

Disclaimer: The Gargoyles animated series is the property of the Walt Disney Company and Buena Vista Animation, originally created and co-produced by Greg Weisman. The Gargoyles Saga is the creation of TGS staff of fan fiction writers and artists who give consent to use their stories and characters to other fan fiction writers with the condition of acknowledgement. No copyright infringement is intended and not authorized by the copyholders, this writer makes no profit from these stories and only writes for fun entertainment and love of the series. All OCs are the property of the author Inspiration.

Author's note: This story in my gargverse takes place a few days before the events of the TGS episode _Turncoat_. As I always try to make clear, my goal for most of my stories is to be faithful to the original series and TGS, but it is all my own interpretation and I acknowledge where stories and characters are from to the original creators.

It was a night that had changed her life forever, but then she had never known. Had she known then, what it had nearly cost her may never have happened.

But she couldn't have known, all simply because she was afraid. She had let fear guide her decisions.

She believed him and everything he said. But he had lied to her, just as she had lied to herself. All she wanted was to keep her family and children safe, and for a time she was sure she had succeeded.

When her children were small they would cry out for her presence and reassurance when they became afraid of the dark, and the scary monsters they were sure were out to get them from the dark closet or under the bed. She always told them with surety and confidence that there was no such thing as monsters and there was nothing to be afraid of from the dark. As they grew older that old fear of the dark and the scary monsters that hid in the dark steadily faded, even after they took to the excitement of an action show called _The Pack_, a show she did not originally approve of because of its heavy violence.

It had been that way until one fateful night her family had the fortunate chance to actually meet the members of the Pack, and her children had been so excited to at last meet their idols. If not for the sight of seeing two of the most frightening looking creatures she had ever seen she would never have believed it to be real. Her husband reasonably insisted that it had just been a publicity stunt for an upcoming movie for the Pack, though she was sure it had all seemed very real, for the monsters she had seen moved too quickly and too smoothly to be costumes or some sort of special effect, though for a time she had no choice but to believe her husband's assumption.

Then there came that night not two years later when a video recording broadcasted by WVRN showed a group of monsters fleeing from a destroyed police station, and two of them she recognized as the same ones she had seen fighting the Pack. For nearly two years she would off and on hear of rumors of creatures flying around out there in the city, though she just dismissed it as an urban legend like everyone else. Yet part of her was sure it was true, having seen two of them herself; one of them almost having attacked her son.

Memories of her children crying out for their mother had flooded back to her and her need to try and reassure them there was no such thing as monsters in the dark.

But she was wrong.

There were monsters.

And now these monsters had a name: Gargoyles.

Gargoyles are the very monsters children fear will get them in the dark, and she had to protect them from these monsters that threatened her own children for it was her duty as a mother. And there is no creature fiercer in nature than a mother protecting her young.


	2. Chapter 2

At first she thought the only way to protect her children was have them inside and locked in the house after sunset, never allowing them outside even to just play in the evenings.

Then, not long after the gargoyles had destroyed the police station, a man came forward with what had to be a godsend. He had knowledge of these monsters and he had offered her and many other people a chance to protect their families.

It was as though her prayers had been answered.

To truly protect her family, and most importantly her children, she had joined the Quarrymen Society.

From that very first meeting as she heard John Castaway speak with such passion and charisma upon the stage about the purpose of his organization, she believed she had found a kindred spirit in him and others who joined the Quarrymen. He was one of the very few that understood how she was feeling, how helpless and alone she thought she was in the world when the police and authorities did nothing to capture or eliminate the monsters because of what a threat they really were to the innocent, especially all the innocent children in the city.

When Assistant District Attorney Margot Yale had gone on _Nightwatch_ to debate about the 'Gargoyle problem' against a college professor who sounded like from some place in the British Isles, she had agreed wholeheartedly with Yale when she said that 'our children are not safe.' Here was at least one authoritative figure in office who at least understood how this mother of two was feeling and wanted something done about those monsters while other city politicians just debated and prattled on instead of taking action as they should have.

A short while later a few policemen even joined when they felt their precincts were lacking and they believed they had to do some 'law enforcement' outside of their jurisdiction. To have police officers, even just a few, grounded her confidence and growing faith in this new organization and surety that she was doing the right thing.

Now this mother of two, Nita, had the resources she needed to protect her family and children, to truly make a difference in their lives.

Part of her did not like how she was being a hypocrite in some small way, for she had always taught her children, Billy and Susan, that violence was not the solution to solving problems with issues such as bullies in school or when they were in trouble. She taught them to use common sense, use words to talk out the issue or tell an adult like a police officer, firefighter, teacher, or even a parent.

But this was a completely different situation; these were wild animals that needed to be captured because they were dangerous and unpredictable, a danger to people if they were not careful when they encountered one, especially young children who were too naïve to understand about avoiding dangerous wild animals. And the worst part of it was there were no animal control officers who had an expertise on these creatures or how to capture them.

There is no reasoning with wild animals.

It had now fallen to people like Nita to take up the cause of protecting innocents from these dangerous wild animals.

However, it had not been easy on her life, though she knew it would be worth it. They had told her to let the proper authorities handle it, for it was their job. But there are no 'proper authorities' for this particular situation, the defense and protection from nocturnal monsters that meant to unsuspectingly snatch innocent children from their warm beds late at night and do God only knew what to them. The police would do nothing; animal control did not know what or how to deal with it, and city government officials only seemed to debate and quibble about it all.

If those gargoyles dared to destroy even a police station, how could she expect her children or herself to feel safe in her own home or neighborhood at all?

What she was doing and how she was doing it may have seemed like vigilantism, but it was the only option presented to her and she had seized it. Though she always believed her purpose to be noble enough, her choice had forced her to constantly lie about her activities to her family as they became concerned for her as the weeks past, believing the Quarrymen to be a group of dangerous urban terrorists as the news channels reported on their more unorthodox activities. She tried to assure them she was fine and they had nothing to worry about, but she could see it on their faces they did not always believe her.

If only she could make them understand she was doing it to protect them.


	3. Chapter 3

Every time the news would report something about gargoyles, she would became irritated to the point of fearful as she attempted to point out any so-called good deeds done by the monsters were nothing more than a hoax created by the media for ratings, and her children were not to believe what was said about them, because they were dangerous, and the next moment change the channel as though to say the issue was closed.

Her family and friends often told her to calm down and let it go, for she was just over reacting in fear of something she did not truly understand. But she understood better than anyone, having seen the monsters up close and personal as they fought the Pack, almost attacking her children, and having attacked a city train she herself had been on just two nights before the destruction of a police station.

For a moment she began to believe them until she saw her son, Billy, bring home a children's book she was sure would give her a nervous breakdown. Some idiot author had written a book about gargoyles being blessed by angels and how they should be blessed by people because they were like people. But these were complete lies and she could not allow her children to be exposed to this kind of garbage. They are monsters out to harm people, especially innocent children, and nothing more.

In all of her fears and all of her efforts to protect her family the one person who seemed to truly understand was John. He told her of how his own brother had been attacked and nearly killed by a gargoyle, and ever since then he has sworn to do all he could to put a stop to the rampaging demons, to make sure they will never again harm another innocent human being. It was a cause he offered to others in his organization, to help him prevent the death or murders of innocent people, a cause she had been all too willing to accept in order to keep her children safe. She drew strength from his support as she came to him with her troubles, telling her she was doing the right thing in keeping the corrupted moral ambiguity of the more idiotic liberal people at bay from influencing her children's innocent and impressionable minds. She was protecting them from an ancient evil, and it was her moral and God given duty to fight against it.

Although she is indeed a God fearing and good Christian woman, she prayed every night God would protect her children from the dangerous monsters, and forgive her for her actions because she could not stand by and do nothing. She knew how volatile the Quarrymen's methods could be sometimes and how John's determination became all consuming, but he had made Nita and others understand that sacrifices had to be made if they were to succeed in stopping the monsters and saving the human race.

Every now and then she had a sense of self doubt and misgivings about the way John would carry out his plans for fighting the cause, such as how he twice kidnapped New York City police officers. Common sense told her that was going too far and the Quarrymen were already getting into enough trouble with the authorities in the city, when what they really needed was the police force's understanding and support. However, when he told her and others that these two specific cops were suspected 'gargoyle loving' collaborators, she began to think that maybe he knew what he was doing and it was for the salvation of humanity.

She recognized the first abducted police officer as the woman who had been undercover in a blond wig to take down three street thugs the same night she had been on the train when the gargoyles had attacked. She had been sure it was her imagination but the burnet haired police woman seemed to embrace the big purple monster as though they were old friends, or possibly something more. The very thought of it either way just turned her stomach.

Why would a sworn police officer throw her lot in with monsters when it was supposed to be her job to protect good decent people such as herself and her family? All Nita could think was how disappointed and resentful she felt towards that police woman, and perhaps now she will think twice before betraying her own kind now that John had her in custody.

Unfortunately, the police woman somehow escaped and the hidden Quarrymen base had to be abandoned after she had left that same night.

The second police officer to be apprehended by the Quarrymen was Detective Matthew Bluestone, the so-called leader of the so-called Gargoyle Task Force.

Though it bothered Nita greatly that John was willing to take such a dangerous risk, John had been right about one thing; the so called police Gargoyle Task Force was a joke, a complete waste of the honest taxpayers' money and an even worst waste of time if its members couldn't even do a proper job of catching a monster and protecting the city's citizens.

Unfortunately, Bluestone had somehow managed to escape Quarrymen custody as well, and in broad daylight. John had said that the creatures turned to stone during the day and that was why they only came out at night. So they could not have been involved with Bluestone's escape this time, unlike Maza's which took place in darkest night and most likely had the help of her monstrous 'friends.'

Yet despite both times of abducting these gargoyle sympathizing police officers, she knew it was still going too far and her common sense told her there had to be another way. She was sure of this because at least a few police officers had joined their cause, even if it meant they had to go against what they had been trained to do and how they were made to believe to up hold law and order.

One she became closely acquainted with was a young woman named Sara Jasper, who had joined the Quarrymen because she believed in their cause of protecting people from great dangers and they were not so different from what being an officer of the law was all about. Also one of John's top ranking men was a police officer named Jay Smith who always kept the Quarrymen leader appraised of any police doings in the city so as to be sure whatever action was taken in their Godly cause against a great evil did not completely cross any legal line, and they were always one step ahead of the authorities.

Yet despise these reassurances, part of her still felt it would be more productive to find a way of working *with* the police instead of antagonizing them while fighting a real threat to innocent people.

However, her faith continued to be further shaken in John Castaway a bit, though she refused to admit it to herself.

She was well aware that his determination to capture the gargoyles often bordered on obsession, which could be easily heard in his speeches to his supporters and in the way he organized raids on places that gargoyles were suspected to roost or who their 'sympathizers' were.

Many decent people began to leave the organization, saying that John was becoming so obsessed with 'vengeance' that he was beginning to sound more like a raving and ranting lunatic than an inspirational leader, as well as how the most recent campaigns for capturing gargoyles were becoming more and more violent. It was as though he was forgetting what the Quarrymen were really supposed to be fighting for, and more and more joiners were most often former street thugs or begrudged criminals, a situation that did disturb Nita.

Nita refused to believe any of this, simply attributing it to the great stress John has had to endure with the trauma he experienced with what the gargoyles did to his own family and having to lead a big organization. Also, though deserters were called cowards, she simply thought that they could no longer afford to make the great sacrifices it took to be part of the Quarrymen Organization and the cause it fought for.

Maybe some of it was true, but she was determined to fight all the way, even if it was just by passing out flyers, helping to organize campaign rallies, or attending meetings. She refused to do anything involving violence unless a gargoyle would actually attack her, her family, or any of her friends.


	4. Chapter 4

Just as Nita was beginning to doubt the Quarrymen's cause and that they would ever catch and cage a gargoyle, something rather remarkable happened; they had finally managed to ensnare the alpha gargoyle, the large lavender leviathan himself.

It did her heart good to know that they finally had captured a gargoyle, and the leader of the pack no less. This meant that the Quarrymen were finally making some progress in their mission, and though capturing the rest may take years, her children and all the other innocent children of Manhattan now had one less monster to worry about at night.

But Nita knew that they still had a long way to go.

She arrived at the warehouse it was said to be held in after word had rapidly gotten around to members of the society, to see for herself the great beast that dared to threaten innocent children. She made sure to arrive fully in uniform, her dark navy blue Quarrymen jumpsuit and hood, for absolute certain fear that the beast would recognize her, a chance she was not willing to take.

She now finally had a chance to gaze upon this animal without being put in danger by its wild unpredictability and show it that not all good people needed to be afraid of its kind, that there were those capable of fighting back.

Though it was heavily chained down and armed Quarrymen guarded it at all times, strangely what she saw gave her the image of more of a prisoner of war rather than a captured animal, for it did not even struggle or growl in aggression as a caged tiger would.

It knelt in place with its head bowed and a strangely stoic expression on its remarkably humanoid yet alien face. Its figure spoke of power and grace, of one who could fight, yet she also thought of overly pumped superheroes such as the Hulk or the Thing from her son's comic book collection. She quickly had to remind herself that this was a dangerous beast that has now been captured and needed to be caged or put down.

She stood in front of the beast with bold defiance, taking in every detail about it as she said to it with proud satisfaction,

"You will never harm another innocent child again, monster."

Yet instead of growling at her or showing any kind of threatening display, it just looked at her with remarkably human eyes. It chilled Nita a bit how humanly expressive those eyes were, for she could see in but one moment several emotions radiate from that one look; dignity, strength of character, and most of all pity. Not pity for its current situation, but rather for her, of this she was absolutely certain.

That one look chilled her spine not in fear, but something more uncertain, like doubt or regret, and that was enough to tug strongly at her heart strings.

It chilled her even more that it only took a moment to happen before the beast simply responded with an amazingly deep voice and yet in such clear words,

"I would never harm a child. Like you, we too try to protect our children from terrible dangers, for that is our nature."

Nita looked at the gargoyle a moment longer, a few thoughts of doubt threatening to come to the forefront of her mind, but she quickly banished them for she refused to give the monster the satisfaction.

With narrow eyes looking through the slits of her hooded mask she hissed at him in a low voice, "Tell that to my children who have to always live in fear because of you."

She then walked away from the beast with hardness in her step, certain that the monster never took its gaze off of her the entire time.

When Nita was certain she was finally out of the beast's line of sight, only then did she allow herself a deep relieving breath. Yet she felt herself shake a bit as she thought of what had just occurred. The experience had not gone the way she had expected, making her both proud and confused.

Before she could contemplate on it further, the Deep Blue warning alarmed throughout the warehouse to warn all Quarrymen to either evacuate or be ready to fight. She did not know how the police had found the hidden Quarrymen base, but she felt extremely fortunate to have escaped through a side door from police custody.

Being arrested and in jail was something she could not afford to bring down onto her family. Even if she had not been involved with the gargoyle's capture, she would still be held for questioning because she had been at the scene and as a member of the Quarrymen most likely charged with being an accomplice.

As she watched the police raid on the news the next day, Nita had mixed emotions about what was said.

Many members of the Quarrymen had been arrested on various charges of kidnapping, vandalism, attempted murder, and more. Nita became numbed with relief and confusion because many of them were already felons with warrants out for their arrests, yet this also meant that the organization had become drastically weakened and would take time to build up its strength again. Yet would it really be worth it, after all the damage the Quarrymen have caused over the past several weeks? And yet, how is capturing a monster warranted as kidnapping when it was clear it had no legal rights in the first place?

The news also told that Jay Smith, a respected police officer and one of Castaway's highest ranking men, had also been arrested and would most likely be facing expulsion from the police force and a court martial for his betrayal, while it was also revealed that Sara Jasper had been undercover in the Quarrymen the entire time. Now that her cover in the Quarrymen had been revealed, it had also become clear that Smith had been a member of the Gargoyle Task Force and had been trying to keep the police from truly interfering with Quarrymen activities while Jasper gathered enough evidence to bring the organization down as a whole.

Although most Quarrymen had been arrested from the warehouse last night, John Castaway was still at large and there was no evidence that he had been involved with the gargoyle's capture last night.

Nita was unsure about how she felt about this. As much as she admired John and had come to consider him a good friend over the weeks, she could not help but think that she may not truly know him at all.

Before confronting the gargoyle last night he had greeted her with enthusiastic open arms and excitement over this latest 'victory,' yet she heard something in his voice that she had never heard before. It was a clear icy undertone of smug satisfaction of succeeding in his plans, a tone that made Nita think John was sounding too much like a maniacal Saturday morning cartoon villain that had captured his arch enemy and now boasted his plans to the captured hero. His eyes shown with a blazing fire she had never seen before that made his blue eyes seem somehow inhuman to her as he spoke of how that he had finally captured and will soon eliminate his brother's monstrous attacker and that soon the rest of the monsters will follow.

As much as Nita had believed in the Quarrymen's cause to protect humanity from monsters, she now had to accept that much of their tactics were far too radical, but she always made sure to never be involved with such activity. John should also have known better than to antagonize the police while they were only doing their jobs, and it was not productive to the Quarrymen's cause. As much as she did not want to believe John had allowed himself to become all consumed with hateful vengeance, she now wondered if she should still be part of the Quarrymen and be able to help John and keep himself from hurting himself or anyone else.

Or maybe it was too late, for her and for John.

The news then finally told of a statement given to the police by the large gargoyle, now identified as Goliath, as saying, "Although most of the Quarrymen are dangerous, especially John Castaway, not all are lowly thugs but only humans fearful of what they don't understand, and I know that they will soon know that gargoyles mean them no harm."

That statement, along with what the gargoyle had said to Nita last night, made her confusion and doubt grow more as she thought about what had been happening for almost two months. Although she was still sure that gargoyles were dangerous monsters, none had actually attempted to attack her or her family in any way. Though she thought that maybe they were occupied with stalking other poor innocent people other than her kids in the city.

She also thought that even if they are dangerous animals, even animals fiercely protect their young and perhaps that much is true about what the gargoyle had said.

Not wanting to think about her growing doubts any longer she switched off the news and went to occupy herself with other things and let her head clear. She was mostly successful for most of the day until she got a call from a Quarrymen member whose voice she did not recognize telling her that all remaining Quarrymen were to meet that afternoon, two hours before sunset.

Nita did not want to have to attend because tonight was family night and everyone had planned on going to the movies to see a movie her kids had been excited about seeing for months. Hoping it would be a short meeting, she told her family that she would meet them at the theatre after she had taken care of helping some friends from her church circle.

Although she had been told to bring her uniform, she failed to see the point of doing that if this was just going to be a quick meeting, even if wearing the uniform to meetings had become the norm for attending members of the organization.

Finally arriving at a brownstone that acted as one of several bases for the Quarrymen Society, Nita entered a medium sized meeting room crowded with remaining members, all with their hoods on, and John Castaway on the stage beginning his latest speech of stopping the gargoyles.

"Last night was the biggest betrayal dealt to our righteous cause!" Castaway shouted, "Not only was a police officer who claimed to be on our side actually undercover for the damn incompetent police, but she actually helped free the beast we had captured! Their corruption knows no bounds! It's long past time we were more proactive in our war with the mindless demons!"

The moderate crowd gave an enthusiastic cheer that Nita was only partially in, her heart not truly in it.

Castaway then continued in his raving speech,

"Tonight, we will take the first step in bringing the fight to them! Tonight we march to their nest where they roost atop the Eyrie Building and we will draw them out! One by one they will fall and then we take that race traitor, Xanatos, into custody and remind anyone of the consequences of supporting such abominations! Are you with me!?"

The crowd cheered again, louder this time, while waving silvery metallic hammers in the air and chanting with gusto "Smash some stone!" over and over.

"Go now, my friends! Go and show them who you are!" he shouted as he slipped his hood over his head, "Show them you are Quarrymen! Show the beasts you have no fear!"

The crowd cheered again and began to push their way out of the meeting room; many continued the "Smash some stone" chant. Castaway then shouted from the stage,

"Since violent is all they know, then it's violence they shall get!"

Nita just watched her fellow Quarrymen leave as she numbly stood in the middle of the room, Quarrymen bumping into and ignoring her as they made their way out the door to awaiting Quarrymen vans and trucks.

She gave a bit of a start as she felt a hand on her shoulder and she heard John say from behind his hood,

"Come on, Nita, I need everyone on this. We're going to need your strength."

She just looked at him aghast for a moment as she tried to say with a bit of an apprehensive stammer,

"But, John, it's family night. I thought this was just going to be a quick meeting, I need to get home."

Castaway suddenly grabbed both her arms in a vice like grip that might leave visible bruises later in the night, and despite the hood Nita suddenly saw something inhuman burn from his ice cold blue eyes through the eye holes, and for a moment she finally saw how deeply red the three diagonal slashes across his insignia really were, as though they were truly claw marks with fresh blood. She now felt that it had to mean something more than just John's status as leader of the Quarrymen.

"If those monsters aren't stopped there won't be any family nights for you or for anyone. Trust me, once they're finally eradicated your family will thank you for your courage. Now put on your hood and join us."

Something in his voice sent a terrible chill down her spine, the clear hinted snare as he said the last few words. She reluctantly looked at the clumped up hood in her hand, then she slowly slipped it over her head until she was looking through the eye holes. Castaway release his hold on her, returning feeling and blood circulation to her arms, grabbed a hammer from one of the spare piles and held it to her to take.

For a moment she just stared at it, having not touched a hammer since that first meeting of the fledgling Quarrymen Society.

Finally taking the large hammer from him and staring at it, he then put his hand more gently on her shoulder this time as he said,

"Good, Nita. Now come, we have a city to save."

Walking behind John as he lead her to one of the awaiting Quarrymen vehicles, the hammer felt strange in her hands and seemed to weigh 1000 pounds to her as though a literal heavy burden she had been entrusted to carry; though this was a burden she no longer wanted to be involved with.

Outside, she reluctantly climbed into a dark blue Quarrymen van that had been armored like a tank and sat next to another Quarryperson whose face she could not see beneath the hood.

Moments after the van doors slammed shut, the filled vehicle drove down the road with its burden of darkly clad crusaders.


	5. Chapter 5

Nita soon found herself on a long ride through city traffic that had greatly delayed John's plan for storming the Eyrie Building, which part of her was thankful for and she hoped John would call off this futile raid and simply think of recruiting new people to replace their waned numbers.

Instead he merely changed his plan to have everyone patrol the city to find the gargoyle that got away, the one Nita now knew to be named Goliath. John's orders were that if they find the beast, no one was to engage it because he wanted the personal honor of dealing with the beast himself. If anyone else but Castaway saw the beast, they were to inform him over the comlink immediately.

An hour had passed after sunset, and as though by the continuous work of fate, Castaway had spotted the giant gargoyle along with two others that were too far to identify. Castaway ordered the driver of the van to follow them closely and not lose them or he would have the driver's head, to which the driver resorted to typical New York style driving through the streets to nearly hit other passing vehicles and leave behind blaring horns that expressed their frustration at near accidents.

The maneuvers the driver made through the streets gave Nita a nauseating feeling as she became car sick and became all the more thankful when the van finally stopped. Feeling too woozy to open the van door, another Quarryperson had to do it with a grumbled complaint and a bit more than the dozen others in the van filed out the side door.

Nita was finally the last to step out of the van to find that the others were dispersing to spread out and find the gargoyles. The van had stopped in a community neighborhood with middleclass apartments, shops, and a movie theatre that made Nita stop in her tracks.

They were not far from where she lived.

A few Quarrymen ran back to Castaway to report that gargoyles had to be nearby but they were now hiding somewhere in this neighborhood.

"So, if the cowardly beasts won't face us then we'll draw them out," he snarled, "Begin smashing everything in sight, but leave the people. If they don't stay out of our way, then they should've known better. Nita, you're with me."

Nita only stared for a moment as she watched Castaway swing his hammer and deeply bend a nearby light post, while other Quarrymen began to smash holes in the walls of nearby buildings or shatter glass windows. People who watched the Quarrymen began to runaway screaming as damage was done to the surrounding structures; some people too close for comfort.

In less than a minute, rubble and shattered glass covered the street, light posts fell like thin electric trees to have their bulbs shatter or go out, and even cars parked on the sides of the street didn't escape the rage of a Quarry hammer. Several Quarrymen even became so caught up in the excitement they activated their hammers' electric power to cause even more damage and destruction; whole walls were destroyed and cars exploded in a fiery blossom.

One wall became so badly smashed it was nearly a small avalanche as stone debris fell to nearly injure several nearby pedestrians, which was then followed by a trio of roars from above to then reveal the presence of three gargoyles landing in the middle of the street just in front of Castaway.

Nita could only watch everything nearby in shocked numbness, never even moving from her spot as she watched John do damage to a mundane neighborhood full of innocent people.

This couldn't be the group she first joined to help protect her family.

Some part of her then took notice of the gargoyles, among them was indeed the large lavender one, Goliath, and the other two were a devilish red one with horns, a long snout, and dressed in some sort of armor while the other was a cool shade of green with a more human like face, a pair of gracefully curving horns, and had a long sword of some kind drawn in front of it. All three had their eyes glowing, two white and one red.

"Cease your senseless destruction at once, human," said the green one, a female, with a hard challenging tone, "Your actions are those of a coward endangering the innocents around you."

Several nearby Quarrymen stopped with their destructive vandalism to stand near Castaway and face the gargoyles, hammers at the ready, as Castaway shouted, "I'll show you who's a coward! Quarrymen, take them down, but leave the big one to me!"

The nearest Quarrymen gave challenging screams as they activated their electrified hammers to battle the red and green gargoyles, Castaway followed a moment later doing the same as he ran up to fight Goliath.

Nita caught quick glimpses of the fights with the other two gargoyles; two Quarrymen who were clearly second rate street brawlers simply randomly swung their hammers at the red one which he dodged with swift expertise, while another Quarryman also swung his hammer at the green female with the sound of clanging metal as his hammer hit her sword twice before the hammer's head was suddenly cut off smoothly from the handle at the top in one swift and fluid swing from the green female.

Castaway however showed he was the best fighter of the Quarrymen as though he had been trained for fighting most of his life and his most likely opponent would be a gargoyle, they battled in a stalemate as he tried to hit Goliath with his electrified hammer but the giant gargoyle dodged or defended himself as he tried to attack Castaway with sharp talons.

"Whoa! Dad, what's happening out here?" asked a fascinated boy's voice.

Surprised that she recognized that voice, Nita looked to the movie theatre doors to find a crowd of people pour out from inside, among them her own family, no doubt having evacuated the building because of the damage done to it by Quarrymen hammers.

The next moment there was a brief exclaimed cry as a still sparking metal hammer went flying overhead to then hit the sign above the movie theatre entrance to send deadly sparks and debris falling to the growing crowd below, Nita's husband pushed the kids in front of him to get them out of the way, but he then got knocked unconscious by a falling piece of debris from a neon letter as the theatre sign above the crowd suddenly exploded.

"PAUL!" Nita shouted as her husband fell to the ground with a hard thump, running only a few steps to him as the sign above sent bigger hot sparks from above to start small fires around the street.

"DAD!" Bill and Susan shouted nearly simultaneously.

Nita held a hand up to her eyes to shield them from the brightness and deadly heat of the sparking sign as she heard her children shout, unable to reach them because of the growing fires.

There was then a roaring groan and a cry of triumph as the rumble of more damaged debris fell near Castaway and his gargoyle opponent, who now had small electric burns and bruises forming on his body. Goliath used a nearby wall with a fire escape to support himself as he growled at Castaway,

"Are you truly that foolish, Castaway? Risking an open battle with this many people on the streets you claim to defend, yet you disregard their safety!"

Though Nita did not see the madness forming in Castaway's eyes, beyond all of the noise from the destruction on the street she clearly heard him snarl,

"Everyone is expendable in a war on a great evil! Sacrifices must be made if humanity is to survive your demonic corruption! If it means lives are lost in the crossfire, then so be it, it's only a necessity of war!"

The next moment Castaway again swung his electrified hammer at Goliath, which the gargoyle dodged, and instead the wall got hit, the sparking hammer became deeply embedded with the wall to cause the fire escape to destabilize and come loose from the hammer's powerful electric volts, cracks formed in the wall to spider up the wall and grow bigger, causing more debris to come lose and fall from the crumbling wall to further loosen the metal fire escape and it leaned away to teeter momentarily, but then bolts snapped from the weight they held and the bottom four stories of the fire escape came crashing down on top of two innocent children.

Goliath roughly pushed his way past Castaway, who tried to free his trapped hammer a half second before to only give the great gargoyle a mild but painful shock, to bound towards the children before the falling stone and metal avalanche could truly claim their young lives.

"BILLY! SUSAN! NOOO!" was all Nita could scream as she tried to run to her children, but she had to stop just short of the fallen wreckage and shield her eyes from the thick cloud of dust and dirt that billowed around her.

A few seconds might as well have been years for her as she slowly opened her eyes, the dirty dusty cloud making her eyes water over a bit and clog her hood, forcing her to remove it to breath better, but still gave a small cough as she inhaled it from the air.

She cried out for her children again, but they gave no response which gave her a chill down her spine. She looked for them through the cloud, which began to slowly dissipate, but still could not see any sign of them.

Her dreading worry grew until she saw the silhouette of an odd shape through the settling dust, what looked like the shape of a small camping tent yet it seemed more alive. As the dusty cloud thinned out, the 'tent' slowly opened like stage curtains to show they were actually large wings, and inside was the lavender giant with her children wrapped tightly in his arms.

Dreading shock and anger enveloped Nita, for this was her worst fear coming true.

She would not allow this monster to harm her children.

Brandishing her hammer tightly, anger twisted at her motherly features as she snarled at Goliath,

"Get away from them!"

As she began to raise her hammer, her children came running to her and Susan cried,

"Mom, no! Don't hurt him, he save us!"

Nita suddenly froze in place, her daughter holding her arm tightly and her son hugging her from the side. She looked at them in shocked confusion, and then at the large gargoyle kneeling in front of her all covered in dust and dirt. She continued to stare at him as he steadily raised himself to his full impressive height; he looked back at her in expectation, of what she could not say.

The gargoyle suddenly gave a roar of pain as sparks surged upon his body, making him tumble forward a few steps and Nita backed away with her children held close to her.

"C'mon, Nita, now's our chance," Castaway practically hissed with excitement from behind his hood as he stepped out from the thinned dusty cloud, his hammer sparking with deadly power.

The insane Quarrymen leader walked to Goliath's line of sight right in front of the gargoyle, who was once again kneeling on the ground and thin wisps of smoke rose from his brawny body.

"Now, demon," Castaway gasped as though savoring a fancy culinary whine, "My revenge begins with you. And then the rest of your filthy abominable race will follow."

He raised his hammer high as he said in a low triumphant tone,

"I've waited my whole life for this moment."

But before he could bring the sparking hammer down to strike the first blow, something hard and metallic hit him from the side, making him exclaim in both a bit of pain but mostly surprise. He stumbled a few steps to his right to then eye Nita standing where he had been moments before holding her weapon tightly with a hard angered look upon her face, her eyes like cold steel that made the Quarryhammers look like brittle toothpicks.

"Nita, what are you doing?" Castaway cried with genuine confusion, "That beast almost killed those children, we can take him together!"

But his words had fallen on deaf ears, Nita began to stepped towards him with a slow hardness in her step as she said in an icy tone,

"I heard what you said."

She activated her hammer and shocked Castaway with it, but it only as much as a mild taser shock, for it took a great deal of strength for her to hold back from killing Castaway.

"I trusted you, and you lied to me!" she said in a louder voice.

The mild shock was enough to make Castaway stumble and trip on his own feet to land on his backside. He stared up at her in bewilderment, which then turned to angered frustration as he said hotly to her,

"Nita, don't you dare betray me! If you turn your back on the Quarrymen now you're no better than the weak cowardly defectors or race traitors of this infested city!"

Her harden eyes began to glaze over with light tears, and her low lip trembled a bit as she said in a voice that flooded with emotion,

"I joined the Quarrymen to protect my family, not endanger them! If caring about their safety makes me weak, then fine!"

She raise her hammer to her left, a small tear fell from her eye. Castaway remained still for a moment as he anticipated Nita's wrath, but a horse voice then cried out,

"Nita! Don't!"

Nita looked behind herself to see her husband stumble his way to her, a thin trail of blood flowed from his head, crusting on his face and drying to stick his hair in a small matting, but she was just thankful he was alive.

She then looked back at Castaway down in front of her, and though she could not see his face beneath his hood she could tell from the expression in his eyes he was smirking mockingly at her.

She was weak, she did not have the guts to do him harm.

He momentarily flinched when she suddenly swung the hammer and gave a challenging cry, but the hammer never made contact.

Instead it flew in a circle through the air for a second to land on the street several meters away, clear of any pedestrians, to clank back and forth a few times then lay lifelessly still.

Castaway stared up at Nita as she then ripped the hood into rags and then rip the Quarrymen logo from her jumpsuit and throw them at the ground in front of Castaway. Only then did she allow her tears to truly flow as she then felt her husband's arm embrace her and he held her close as she cried heavily into his shoulder.

He picked himself up from the ground to stare at her with burning rage in his eyes, but before he could say anything sirens warbled nearby as police cars and ambulances arrived at the scene.

Nita did not hear whatever threat he shouted and just watched from her misty eyes as he and several still free Quarrymen began to run in the opposite direction from the authorities.

Though she continued to feel herself shake in her husband's arm, Nita calmed a bit as her children, Billy and Susan, joined in their parents' embrace. She savored the moment, thankful to God that they were alive and safe, despite the calamity that had just happened. Though she wondered if they could ever forgive her for what she almost did, because she may not be able to forgive herself.

It would have been so easy to kill John Castaway in that moment for the pain he had just caused her.

But that was a line she would never cross, despite how close it had been. She will not become what she vowed to fight.

Not in front of her children.

Police officers and paramedics then began to fill the scene as she and her family saw that the three gargoyles were still here, watching them with small smiles up their faces, the red and green one holding hands.

They slowly walked up to them and it took a great deal of courage and humbleness for Nita to said to Goliath,

"Thank you. . . for saving my children. They mean the world to me."

Goliath just gave a smile and a small nod as he said, "It's our duty to protect all in this city, human and gargoyle alike."

"We understand how you feel," the red one suddenly said, "We have two kids of our own, and we wouldn't know what to do if we lost them. Look after them, because their future in going to be important."

Nita looked at the red one in puzzlement as he gave her a cryptic wink of his eye as Billy said,

"You guys are awesome."

"Yeah," Susan agreed, "Way better than the Pack."

The gargoyles looked at each other, then gave small chuckles as though sharing a private joke.

The red one then seemed to give the family a salute as he said, "See you around, folks."

All three gargoyles then turned and began climbing the nearest least damaged wall just as several paramedics and a police officer came running up to them. They were all then taken to the nearest ambulance to be checked and treated for injuries. A paramedic then suggested that Nita's husband might need to be taken to a hospital because he may have a mild concussion.

But Nita did not care what happened next. All she cared about right now was that her family was safe and alive, and somehow she felt a bit safer knowing that the gargoyles were out there.

She may not yet fully be able to accept what they are, but she now understood some things better.

She looked back at where she last saw them, but they were long gone, yet whispered to herself as she stared at where they had been something she thought she would never hear herself say,

"God bless the gargoyles, God bless us all."

THE END


End file.
